Louise O'Reilly (Dublin Fingal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I welcome Ms Pyke and all the other witnesses. I will make a remark I do not mean in an offensive way but we all know that women are overrepresented in low-paid work. It is regrettable. I welcome the woman who is here but I regret that there are not more women because we are disproportionately represented among the low-paid, as Ms Pyke and the other witnesses will be aware.

A simplistic narrative emerging from the Government is one in which we cannot give poor people too much money because they might cause some kind of a massive inflationary spiral, yet there appears to be some necessary supports put in place for business that will not, somehow, contribute to inflation. Will Mr. Courtney square that circle? It seems counterintuitive because, on the one hand, we all know that the money put into the pockets of low-paid workers does not sit in investment funds or languish in bank accounts, but goes straight back into the economy while, on the other, we are told welfare is good for business and will not increase inflation. Mr. Courtney expressed a high degree of concern about wage inflation spirals. Does he not see there is a danger that welfare to businesses could contribute to inflation?